The year's best recipes
Regina Murphy
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
As we wrap up 2007, I thought we’d take a look back at some of the more interesting recipes of the year.
Of course, they were all fantastic, but these were particularly interesting.
It’s so great when all of you share your recipes! I know everyone appreciates it, even if you are embarrassed to see your name in the paper. Kansans are very humble!
Debbie Smith provided a gluten-free bread recipe that you can make in the machine. There are a lot of people who need to avoid gluten, and it’s a real challenge! This bread is easy to do and the sorghum and brown sugar add a nice layer of sweetness. “GF” stands for gluten-free.
DEBBIE’S WHITE BREAD
3 large eggs (lightly beaten)
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1-1/3 cps warm water
1 Tbsp. + 1/4 tsp. molasses
1/2 cup sweet sorghum flour
1/2 cup corn meal or GF corn flour
1 cup brown or white rice flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup corn starch
4 tsp. xanthan gum
3 Tbsp. brown sugar
1-1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup powdered milk
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
Combine the liquid ingredients and pour into bread machine pan. Combine the dry ingredients except for the yeast and add those to the pan. Make a little well in the top of the dry ingredients and pour the yeast in there.
Bake the bread on the normal/white cycle. Check when it starts kneading and scrape down any ingredients that stick to the sides with a rubber spatula. Remove the bread to cool on a rack when it’s done baking.
I’ve had a lot of fun meeting some of the kids in the county who do 4-H. The Riverside chapter up in north Lyon County has a professional, assembly line system they use to make thousands (well, about 80) loaves of pumpkin bread to share with friends and family (and traveling food editors). It is delicious!
RIVERSIDE 4-H PUMPKIN BREAD
1 15 oz. can pumpkin
1 2/3 cups sugar
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. baking powder
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray the bottoms of 2 regular or 6 mini loaf pans with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix the wet ingredients. In another, sift together the dry ingredients. Mix them together and pour evenly into prepared loaf pans.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes (until a toothpick comes out clean). Cool 10 minutes on a rack, loosen the sides with a flat knife and transfer the loaves to another cooling rack. Cool completely, wrap tightly, and share the love!
I really like chess pie, and this old-style recipe from the ladies of the Albany Methodist Episcopal Church in Missouri is a good one. It came from the collection of Ollie Patton.
CHESS PIE
“One cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup milk, 3 eggs (keeping out the whites of 2); heat sugar, butter and eggs well together; then pour in milk; fill your pies and bake; when done add the beaten whites and return to the oven to bake.”
The summer cook-offs at the Farmers Market are great fun, especially the salsa contest. These two friends, Sasha Sosa and Lindsey Smith, did well their first year, but they took top prize their second year with this fresh, tongue-tanging mixture of goodness.
SMITH & SOSA
PICO DE GALLO
10 Roma tomatoes
1 small onion
1 green pepper
3 – 4 jalapenos
half a bunch of cilantro, to taste
juice of 2 limes (to taste)
1/2 tsp. salt (to taste)
Lindsay said the key is to dice everything, but not so you end up with mush. Texture is important in this crisp pico de gallo. The measurements are all flexible depending on what you have that’s fresh and how much you want to make.
Toss all the vegetables together, throwing in anything extra you might want to use, like banana peppers, carrots or cucumbers. Add the cilantro, lime juice and salt a bit at a time, tasting as you go so you can adjust the salsa to your needs. If you want more heat, don’t seed the jalapenos, or include a hotter pepper. Best when chilled.
The Presbyterian Manor has monthly cooking contests for the residents which are very competitive. I was invited to judge one based on Coca-Cola as an ingredient (fascinating!). The Jones Health Center residents came in first with their Chocolate “Almost” Brownie cake. It’s diet food! Glenda McDaniel had helped them find a recipe and get the cake made.
Patrick Kluthe’s “Smoking Coke Wings” came in second and Linda Morgan’s “Jell-O Delight” was third.
Those “Almost Brownies” were really rich and flavorful. There’s practically no fat in this recipe and everyone was impressed with the taste.
DIET COKE “ALMOST BROWNIES”
1 box of chocolate cake mix
1 can of Diet Coke
1 small package of sugar-free instant pudding mix
1 8-oz. container of fat-free chilled whipped topping
Mix the cake mix and Diet Coke together. Bake in a 9-x-13-in. pan sprayed with nonstick butter spray. Cook at 350 degrees F for approximately 45 minutes until slightly underdone. Cool.
Make the frosting by mixing the pudding mix with the whipped topping. Use this to ice the cooled cake. Serve with low-fat frozen yogurt.
We tried and tried to find a certain sour cream cake recipe this year, but it must be lost to the ages. However, Blake Eyman supplied one from his mom’s collection that is pretty darn good.
DOROTHY’S SOUR CREAM DEVIL’S
FOOD CAKE
1 cup sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 egg
1 cup flour
3 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Mix everything in order. Bake in a loaf or square cake pan in a slow oven (probably 350 degrees).
Happy New Year to you all! Next week we’ll celebrate 2008 Japanese style, with fabulous recipes from Junko Anderson. Let’s get cooking!
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